“It’s a Trap for Everyone”: LGBTQ+ People’s Perspectives on Anti-LGBTQ+ U.S. Policies Through a Moral Panic Lens

Introduction: Policies that position LGBTQ+ rights as a threat to public safety continue to proliferate across the United States. Some scholars have framed this policy surge as evidence of a moral panic, or a disproportionate response to a perceived reshaping of societal norms or values. Yet, this phenomenon has rarely been described from the perspectives of LGBTQ+ people, who are uniquely positioned to provide insight into how the panic is unfolding in their local communities. Methods: Between July and October of 2024, we conducted one-hour semi-structured interviews with 61 LGBTQ+ adults living in states that had recently proposed or enacted at least one anti-LGBTQ+ policy. We inductively and deductively analyzed the data using thematic analysis. Results: Our analysis yielded three main themes. First, participants broadly believed that anti-LGBTQ+ policies are not reflective of popular sentiment in their communities. Second, they described their perspectives on the tactics used to maintain a moral panic, such as manufacturing a threat, scapegoating an outgroup, and emboldening extant hostility. Third, participants shared their hypotheses about the true motivations behind these policies including distracting from more salient issues and advancing a broader attack on all civil rights. Conclusions: LGBTQ+ people perceived ongoing moral panics as largely driven by societal elites, who scapegoat the lives of LGBTQ+ people to distract from other issues and advance a largely unpopular and regressive agenda. Policy Implications: Policy interventions targeting more fundamental drivers of moral panic, such as economic inequality, will be necessary to advance and protect LGBTQ+ equity.